This is an industry where you're expected to bust your ass to make partner, or burn out and die trying. If you're going to burn out, they want to find out sooner so you can be replaced by someone else.
These lawyers aren't full time employees who would be on the partner track. "Contract attorneys" are hired on a temporary, project by project basis to perform document review for discovery during lawsuits and investigations. Depending on the size of the matter, the work could be done by a small team or even hundreds of reviewers.
They are directly employed by staffing agencies, and those agencies that have contracts with law firms or corporations. Their primary task is to sit in front of a computer and review documents, and disposition those documents based upon the instructions provided by the law firm.
Aside of the fact that the process is overseen by lawyers, document review probably doesn't have to be done by lawyers.
There are law firms out there that have a much more agile model. Granted, what they’re eliminating is the supporting cruft and bloat, and the partners are doing all the real lawyer work themselves instead of just being “rainmakers” that bring in the business. OTOH, they also are happy to work towards a better work/life balance.
I'd argue that this is precisely an example of agile methodology. Document review isn't performed by high cost lawyers - it's performed by contractor lawyers who cost a fraction of that. On many matters, project managers are brought in to develop a project plan and scrums are held to assess progress. There are several workstreams built out on an iterative basis and a change log is maintained throughout the project that informs the project backlog.
Contract attorneys may put in 40 hours a week on some projects but 70-80 a week on others, and are often paid overtime rates.
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 24.8 ms ] threadThey are directly employed by staffing agencies, and those agencies that have contracts with law firms or corporations. Their primary task is to sit in front of a computer and review documents, and disposition those documents based upon the instructions provided by the law firm.
Aside of the fact that the process is overseen by lawyers, document review probably doesn't have to be done by lawyers.
The life of lawyers doesn’t have to be like this.
There are law firms out there that have a much more agile model. Granted, what they’re eliminating is the supporting cruft and bloat, and the partners are doing all the real lawyer work themselves instead of just being “rainmakers” that bring in the business. OTOH, they also are happy to work towards a better work/life balance.
It doesn’t have to be a pyramid scheme.
Contract attorneys may put in 40 hours a week on some projects but 70-80 a week on others, and are often paid overtime rates.